Friday, January 30, 2004
The film just slows to a crawl and dies.
By CONNIE OGLE
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
When you're a filmmaker, and you don't have much of a script or action or romance or humor or even, really, notable performances, what do you do? You shoot your movie in Hawaii. That way, when the pace drags, or you need a transition and nobody has bothered to write one, you just toss in some footage of surfers on big waves. Presto! Instant visual stimulation.
Yanked unceremoniously from the pages of an old Elmore Leonard novel, "The Big Bounce" makes use of this dodge often, which is fortunate. Scenery is the one thing this lame caper has going for it. But all the gorgeous cliffs and waves in the world -- probably more than we saw in the entire run of "Magnum P.I." -- can't give "The Big Bounce" what its title promises. The "bounce," you see, is the elation one feels when life is thrilling. The film meanders. It shuffles. It finally slows to a crawl and dies, no climax to be found. But bounce? That it does not do.
The main characters
Jack Ryan (Owen Wilson in Scruffy/Cute, not Annoying/Whiny, mode), a small-time grifter who surfs and occasionally ends up in jail, isn't looking for bounce, really. But then he sees the bikini-clad Nancy (Sara Foster, obviously cast for her hip bones), who looks as though she could use a good hot meal or two. Nancy, mistress of the cranky evil developer Ray (Gary Sinise, practically invisible on screen), is attracted to bad boys. Her definition of bounce includes stealing cars, skinny dipping and breaking and entering. She looks good in a bikini, thinks Jack. So he provides the low-rent illegal thrills.
Eventually there is some talk of $200,000 left lying around Ray's hunting cabin, and the script floats the possibility that everyone is scrambling to get it, but mostly the scam feels like an afterthought. "The Big Bounce" also tries to be funny, but the humor is so mild it's easy to miss. Wilson is gamely charming, and Charlie Sheen plays a decent dim-wit. But a farcical scene involving Nancy and two unwitting guys in different rooms is downright embarrassing, almost as mortifying as another moment that reeks of homophobia.
Just lazy
Mostly, though, "The Big Bounce" isn't offensive, or even terrible. It's just lazy, relying on numb moviegoers to fork over cash thinking they'll see the next "Get Shorty" or "Out of Sight." Save your money, pool it and buy Leonard's latest novel, "Mr. Paradise," instead. No panoramic views; just good, clean grifting and plenty of bounce.